Improvement in bleaching animal and vegetable fibers



To all whom it may concern:

U TED STAT-E s ,PATENT OFFICE.

' o. M. TESSIE DU Mom? AND on. MAREO AL, or METZ, FRANCE.

- 5 Specification forming part of Letterx-P atcntlloe 6 7.1349, datedAug'ustQB, 18661-- Be it known that we, OXPRIEN MARIE TES-' snt noMorsyand CHARLES RAPHAEL Mme GHAL, both of Metz, in the Empire ofFrance,- have Invented certain new and useful Improvements in BleachingVegetable and Animal Fibers and Tissues,= and in obtaining alkalinepermanganates-forthis' purpose; and we hereby declare thefollowing' to.be a full, clear, and vexact description of the same.

Fibersaiid-tissues of vegetable oranimal origin; such asoakumandcotton,woolen, linen,

silk, and other stuffs, &c bleach rapidly and Without alteration, first,when they are. soaked, m'liquids containing'in solution superoxygem atedacids or metallicsalts, such as perchroQ mic, permangan'ic, tungstic,chromic, man genie acids, or soluble perchromates, perman ganatc's,

tungstates'chromates, and manganates sec-4 ond,where,' after being takenout from any one of these liquids, they are plunged in acid wateroxygenated, or in acid baths, which form, with the persalts or themetallic oxides-with which the fibers are soaked and covered, a solublesalt less oxygenatedsuch as a hy'posulphate of magnesia, forinstance-when, after. havingbeen plunged in a bath of alkalinepermanganate, they are steeped in a bath'of water charged withsulphurous acid, &c

'The above-named fibers and tissuespare bleached equally withoutalteration when after-having been soaked in the oxygenated acid water,they are plunged into liquids-con5 taining in solution acids or metallicsalts which are either superoxygenated or capableof superoxygen'atingthemselves.

I Therea'ction of the baths, bein gable, as well as the reaction of theoxy enated -acid water,

to produce, with oxygenated or superoxygen- .ated acids, salts, and.metallic oxides, soluble salts less oxygenated, brings about a mutualdecomposition of the elements brought together, and the fibers andtissues of vegetable oranima-l origin plunged into the baths where thesereactions are engendered become decolorized, as by the contact with theactive oxygen produced by the electric spark or by phosphorus. v

Such are, in a general way, the reactions discovered by us, which can bepractically employed in bleaching fibers or tissues of animal orvegetable origin.

Y l' PRovEM-EN'tinlets/tenths Ania/ML ANDVEGETABLEFIBERSL" I t remainsnow to specify the method of .em-

other. above-mentioned acids and metallic persalts, permanganic acid andalkaline permanganates, or alkaline earthy (alkaline-ferrous)manganatas, as being practically the most economical and chemicallythemost eflicacious. A

- When we wish to bleach'any .ofth-e vegetable fibers above mentioned orauy'other ten three tofour per cent. of the perogride of hydrog'ci andfrom two to three per cent. of hydrochloric"aci d, o r in a bath ofwater saturated witYlT's'mphurods-acid. The said substances are left inoneor the other of these- 'b2 iths until the persalt with which theyare-soaked and thergum or. lac; (laque) of V the oxidej ogfi manganesc,which covers: thein are-entirely dissolved, which will be infaboutthirty minutes. After this they are rinsed in fresh water, then wasbedinlye, and redipped, in the order above indicated, first, in the solutionof permanganic acid or of the permanganate; second, in the bath ofoxygenated acidlwater, orin the sulphurous-acid bath, and soonunt-ilperfectly' bleached.

' Theb'ath (which contains, according'to' the quantity ofcoloring-matter to be'removed from the substances to be bleached, fromfourto ten per cent. of permanganieacid or of per! inangate) is ingeneral suflicient to entirely deoolorize one hundred kilograms of wovenor spun cot-ton, hemp, or flax. We employ the above-described methodequally in'bleaching thefibers-and tissues of silk, wool,.&c., withalways this exception, that for this bleach ing weelnploy exclusively,in'placefof the oxygenated water, sulphurous-acld liquid,

flaring dcscrihed our method 'o f hle'achin g -I by the employment of;alkaline manganetes;

and alkaline eel-thyv '(alkaliqw'; trreuw) permdnganatesand lleflfiafng'anic acid, it remains for us =toindicai-te'the' improved meth'mi'- by-4\i 'l 1ic l 1.these fcoz'nponn'dsimay be produced,.for tql ttf' the"present *timfethew ,reeetivc- 811b,- stances have been produced atpricesso 'high' "thgit'it'hzis beenimpo's'sible to employ them for puroses of "bleaching. Y Clhemethd which we are about to describe ofproducing. the manganates and perman- 3 kndtesis-theh the necessarycomplement of 'the process of bleaching just describedv It is known thatwater employed"in-- excess "will change. orseparate elkalin' manganates.

into permanganates free bases (bases libres) and peroxide'of'jnanganese--as, for example,

- f It is equallygen knoiivnqthatthe diluted :acids transformithemangenates into Perm an-- But itis also known thin: the permangh-'.-

natesthus generated, being, as soonias gener- 'ated, dissolved in-alarge-'qnantity'of water,--

must-be 'evaporated,' either: ina-order to be brought back to a"crystallizedlstate. or to be employedinconcentrated solqti'cns, a'ndthat every evaporation destroys aconsiderable proportion of these"compounds. Thisl'heing ,the'. case, we have soughhfir'st, ift-other-bodiesthan water will not be able-to produce-in concentratedsolutidns ofsolnble mangenates'.

a. change the efi'e'ct of which'wonld be to trans- '-form the manganates to permangan'atesf;

second, if the transformation ofthe said manganat'es into 'permanganatescould not be m'ade at the pulpy or pasty state, 'becom'ingdry ;at

the ordinary femperatilre; end we ha ve found, first, that,';in place ofwater as an agent for effecting the transformation, there maybe isuccessfully suhstitnted in filly-concentrated; sollitions of alkaline"1n an ganates= either sul-- ph etes oflime or ofinagnesiam chloridesorcar:

hon Meson hicurhonates of these hases.-' Upon contact with theses'al'tswhen ena te's' are rapidly transformed and-perinan mated-$8 analogousreactions are produced when the soluble mangana'tes anetritnraitedinopresence with snlphatles of "lime or. magnesia, :orwitnthe chlorides, or with. the carbonates and bicarbqnates ofthesehases,-bnt'-lhat, inrthis .crise, the reaction is 11inch more perfectwhen effected in a. current of carbonic acid employed until the paste isdesiccated at a temperature, which may't'ary, withont inconvenience,.from

15 to 40 centigrad.

1. The method of'bleechingyegetahle and I aniinal fibers and tissuesby-the employment of manganates',permanganates;and permengenie a'cid,substantially-as herein described, .2. The method of producing thesalidman; gauates and, permanganates, substantially as herein showrlandd'esil-ribed.

In testimony whereof we hate signed our

